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Thursday, August 8, 2013

...and the Bad Blogger Award Goes To...

Me! I know I was just plain terrible about blogging in July. All I can say is that there were many times that I said to myself I needed to write up a post, but it just never got done. I spent the whole entire month focusing on myself (mentally and physically), that I just found there weren't enough hours in the day left to compose a proper blog post.

So now it's August and I am committing myself back to my blog because I truly miss sharing everything that has been happening. So, what have I been up to?

Well, I successfully completed Summer Shred 13 in June, then the Extreme Shred 13 and the TrulyCommitted Instagram Challenge in July and now I am participating in the Ultimate Shred 13 for August!

I feel amazing and unstoppable!

My June workouts look like this:

Blue is my running, Red is my bike trainer (injured my calf halfway through the month and thankful I had my bike to turn to for cardio) and Gray are all the Shred Workouts.

Participating in Summer Shred 13 really was a life changer for me. I mentioned previously that I had signed up for it when I realized I was spiraling deeper and deeper into a depression over my brother's passing. I did not like where I was heading and knew I had to do something, I just needed someone to tell me what to do and I'd do it.

After 30 days of total commitment to numerous sweat puddle inducing workouts, clean eating and tracking all my food (including measuring all food) in My Fitness Pal, the results were in:

I also participated in the Diet Bet challenge and was one of the winners!

The month of June showed me exactly what I needed to do to successfully continue with my health journey!

So, OF COURSE, I just had to sign up for NHerShoes Extreme Shred 13 for July! I wanted more food plans! I wanted more sweat puddle inducing, heartbeat raising workouts! Call me crazy, but I wanted it!

My July workouts looked like this:

As you can see there was a lot more running! I took 2 full weeks off for my calf and continued to cross train and was back at it in July!

At the end of July my results were:

I like to say the proof is in the pudding and after 8 weeks of my commitment to myself, here is what I looked like:

I was pretty amazed and proud once I did these side by side photos!

The added bonus of July was participating in Truly Jess' "Truly
Committed" Instagram Photo A Day Challenge! Oh my goodiness! This is
what I needed. I drew SO much inspiration from Jess herself, but also
from all the lovely ladies who participated! The love, support,
inspiration, motivation that I received and drew from everyone was more
than I ever imagined. So thankful I did this challenge and still have
all these lovelies with me on my journey!

As part of the challenge we had to state our goals for the month of July:

...and at the end of the month we shared how we did with our goals:

I am pretty proud that I accomplished 4 of the 5 goals. I know the push-up will happen in due time. I am still doing them from the knees and I am ok with that because I know I am getting stronger. Holding the plank for the full minute was a huge challenge and one I was able to meet a couple of times during the month.

So crazy me decided to sign up for the August Plank Challenge on Instagram to help assist me with my planking and building my endurance/stamina/strength. By the end of the month, I am suppose to be able to hold the plank for 5 minutes. We will see if that actually happens, but I am going to give it my all!

Just because I couldn't get enough of the shred workouts from the past 2 months, I decided to also sign up for Ultimate Shred 13. This is the 3rd installment of NHerShoes Summer Shred Series so of course I just had to continue on with all my lovelies from the previous 2 shreds.

So far my month has looked like this:

I'll be going on vacation on August 23, so I am completely committed to doing the best I can with getting all my workouts done before I leave. While I won't be continuing the shred workouts while I am traveling through Europe, I will be sticking with the plank challenge through the end of the month. This is something that I can easily do before venturing out each day and really I have no excuse not to do it!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous month so far and I want to hear what ya'll have been up to!

So talk to me,

1. What have you been doing to challenge yourself lately (physically, mentally, spiritually)?

2. Has anyone else backpacked through Europe? I have always wanted to and simply can not wait to begin this adventure!

@elns - 5 whole minutes of planking!!! Amazing right? When I first say that I was like "Holy Cheeseballs!" LOL We'll see if it actually happens, but I do know I am going to try. Thank you for you support. It's been an amazing journey for me and tons of sweat puddles but oh so worth all the work. I can hear you cheering! :-)

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About Me

I'm a native North Carolinian transplanted in New York City since 1997. I have always had a passion for creativity and find various ways to express this in my life. My creative passions include scrapbooking, knitting and graphic design. To keep my mind and body healthy I am an avid runner/competitor and the newest activity in my life is practicing Bikram Yoga.